Ted Sizer

Ted Sizer
Name	Theodore R. Sizer
Birth date	1932-06-25
Birth place	New Haven, Connecticut
Death date	2009-05-02
Death place	Boston, Massachusetts
Alma mater	Yale University, Harvard University
Occupation	Educator, author, academic administrator
Known for	Coalition of Essential Schools, A Nation at Risk critique, secondary school reform

Ted Sizer

Theodore Ryland Sizer was an American educator, author, and reformer known for leading secondary school transformation and founding the Coalition of Essential Schools. He served as a scholar, administrator, and critic working across institutions such as Yale University, Harvard University, Brown University, and the Ford Foundation, and influenced policy debates involving the U.S. Department of Education, foundations like Carnegie Corporation and Rockefeller Foundation, and reform movements including those led by Paulo Freire and John Dewey.

Early life and education

Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Sizer attended Hopkins School before matriculating at Yale University, where he studied under scholars linked to institutions such as Yale Law School and Greenwich academic circles. After Yale, he pursued graduate study at Harvard Graduate School of Education, encountering educators and theorists connected to Teachers College, Columbia University and influences resonant with the Curriculum Study tradition at Stanford University and the University of Chicago. His early mentors and peers included faculty from Princeton University, Brown University, and Columbia University Teachers College who shaped debates found later in reports like the Coleman Report and writings by James Conant and Arthur Bestor.

Academic and professional career

Sizer began his career teaching and administrating in secondary schools and later accepted faculty positions at Yale University and Harvard University, interacting with departments tied to Columbia University, Boston University, and the University of Michigan. He served as Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education and later became provost at Brown University, where he worked with trustees, boards similar to those at Duke University and the University of Pennsylvania, and donors reminiscent of the Rockefeller Foundation and Carnegie Corporation. His professional network included connections to educational policymakers in the U.S. Department of Education, state departments such as the Massachusetts Department of Education, and national organizations like the National Education Association and the American Association of School Administrators.

Coalition of Essential Schools and educational philosophy

In response to critiques of secondary schooling exemplified by reports such as A Nation at Risk and debates involving the National Commission on Excellence in Education, Sizer founded the Coalition of Essential Schools to promote principles influenced by Progressive education advocates like John Dewey, Ella Flagg Young, and Francis Parker. The Coalition worked alongside initiatives at the Annenberg Challenge, the Ford Foundation, and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to implement structures reminiscent of small learning communities seen in models at schools influenced by Shelter Rock High School, Central High School reforms, and demonstration projects associated with the RAND Corporation and the Brookings Institution. Sizer advocated for student-centered pedagogies related to work by Jerome Bruner, Benjamin Bloom, and Lev Vygotsky and supported performance assessment approaches similar to those promoted by Howard Gardner, Elliot Eisner, and Linda Darling-Hammond.

Major publications and ideas

Sizer authored books and reports that engaged debates with contemporaries such as Diane Ravitch, E.D. Hirsch Jr., Michael Apple, and Theodore Sizer contemporaries at the National Academy of Education. His notable works presented reform proposals paralleling arguments in publications by Jonathan Kozol, Richard Rothstein, and Linda Darling-Hammond, and his writings were discussed in journals alongside articles by scholars from Teachers College, Columbia University and the Harvard Educational Review. Major ideas included restructuring high schools into smaller learning environments, coherent curricula influenced by the work of Ruth Sutton and Benjamin Spock-era progressive critics, assessment reforms akin to portfolio assessment advocated by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, and democratic schooling principles resonant with Paulo Freire and bell hooks.

Awards and honors

Throughout his career Sizer received recognition that placed him among recipients of honors similar to those granted by the National Academy of Education, the Spencer Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation; his work drew acclaim in venues such as the Carnegie Corporation award cycles and commendations from state governors and mayors including officials from Boston, New Haven, and Providence. Professional societies such as the American Educational Research Association and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development acknowledged his leadership, and universities including Yale, Harvard, Brown, and Columbia presented tributes and honorary degrees reflecting networks of trustees like those of Princeton University and Dartmouth College.

Personal life and legacy

Sizer's personal life intersected with cultural and civic institutions in New England, with connections to museums and cultural organizations similar to the Yale University Art Gallery, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Boston Public Library. His legacy influenced generations of principals and teachers who worked in districts like Boston Public Schools, New York City Department of Education, Chicago Public Schools, Los Angeles Unified School District, and reform partnerships with state education agencies across California, New York, and Massachusetts. Successors, scholars, and nonprofit organizations carrying forward his ideas include networks and initiatives operating alongside the Annenberg Foundation, the Broad Foundation, and national teacher unions, continuing debates with policymakers in the U.S. Congress, state legislatures, and education commissions.

Category:American educators Category:Harvard Graduate School of Education faculty Category:Yale University alumni